What Happened To
Our Founding Fathers ?

Have you ever wondered what happened
to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the
British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their
homes
ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army,
another
had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or
hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four
were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and
large
plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the
Declaration
of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if
they
were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy
planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British
Navy.
He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by
the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He
served
in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His
possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas
Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over
the
Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George
Washington
to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and
properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a
few
months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's
bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His
fields
and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in
forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his
children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a
broken heart. Norris and Livingston
suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices
of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing
ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had
security, but they
valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they
pledged:
"For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the
protection
of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives,
our
fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and
independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what
happened
in the Revolutionary War. We didn't just fight the British. We were
British
subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Perhaps you can
now
see why our founding fathers had a hatred for standing armies, and
allowed through the Second Amendment for everyone to be armed.

My
Commentary:

I, through fate or fortune, have
never served my country in the military. The sacrifices of these men,
and
all those that followed and served in our military services giving
their
time, heart, soul and lives, weigh heavily upon me and I am personally
embarassed that I cannot offer an equivalent sacrifice that was made by
our forefathers and our veterans. My vote barely counts, my fortune is
insufficient to affect
even local policies, and our laws prevent me, justly so, from taking
more
extreme measures, that is, if I even had the courage. I don't know if
our
country will ever again see the likes of these Patriots.

Our current crop of politicians
are drastically different from the Patriots that formed this country.
Today's
politicians pass laws that provide themselves incredible personal
benefits
such as private barbers where $ 2.00 gives them a haircut, shave,
manicure
and a shoe shine, private parking at airport terminals, private dining
rooms ($ 6.00 will buy a before lunch cocktail or 2, shrimp cocktail,
caesar salad,
soup, lobster thermidor and/or prime rib or pheasant or roast duck,
desert
and a glass of fine wine or 2 or 3, to wash it all down, free private
gymnasiums,
free dry cleaning and laundry, free stationary and postage, free
telephone,
free fact-finding junkets all over the world (no Holiday Inns or public
transportation
for them) free health care for all family members, the greatest pension
plan
in the Galaxy and of course, fabulous expense accounts to compliment
their
generous 6 figure salary.

Three things we will NEVER
see our politicians vote for: 1 - Term limitations, 2 - Their entrance
into the
Social Security system, 3 - Flat Tax.

1 - Term limitations means they
would have to give up their generous financial benefits, their perks,
their
fame and their enormous sense of power. They will never deny themselves
such
splendor.

2 - The politicians constantly
agonize over the eminent failure of the social security system. Over
half
of the employed people in this country are employed by the government.
They
do not participate in the SS system they have forced upon us. They have
their own government pension plan. It is NOT in danger of
bankruptcy. To
pay for the Viet Nam war and the failed Great Society the congress and
President
Johnson raided the SS Trust Fund thereby causing the current SS crisis.
Saving
the SS system is simple. Move all government employees, including the
politicians,
out of their government pension plan and into the Social Security
system
with the rest of us.

3 - The main job of all politicians
is to spend money. They go to congress, fight over plum committee
assignments then pass spending bills all of which are designed to
guarantee themselves re-election. (A minor amount of time is spent upon
bills controlling trade, commerce and our personal behavior.) In order
to obtain the necessary funds to spend, they must tax. With the
power to tax, goes the immense power of WHAT to tax. By having this
authority, congress can reward campaign contributors, control personal
behavior, investment incentives, subsidize certain industries, punish
certain industries, form new industries and eliminate
those industries they don't like. A flat tax would be fair to everyone.
Congress
will never voluntarily give away such power.

It saddens and sickens me to see
where our country came from and where we are now. Our current pack of
politicians are bloated with greed and self-service. If you think any
politician is concerned
with your personal well being, then I feel sad for you. He wants
your
vote and your money.